1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system configured of a print-requesting device, a printing device, and a transfer device through which communication is performed between the print-requesting device and the printing device, and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional pull printing system SYSP.
A printing device has recently attained widespread use for printing the result of processing by a personal computer, and the like onto a recording medium such as paper.
Such a printing device is called, for example, a “printer”, and is connected to a computer via a network such as a dedicated cable or a LAN. A printing device connectable via a network is called a “network printer” or the like.
A printing device having a variety of functions, such as copying, scanning, faxing, and a document server function, in addition to a printing function, is called, for example, a “multifunction device”, “Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP)”.
The printing system SYSP as shown in FIG. 1 is an example of a printing system using a network printer. The printing system SYSP is so configured that a (pull) print server 2P temporarily saves (spools) print data on a print target, and print data which is sent from a personal computer 1P and the like and saved in the print server 2P is sent out to a network printer 3P appropriately. Such a printing system is called a “pull printing system”, for example.
In such a pull printing system, where a plurality of printing devices are connected to a print server via a network, a user can obtain print data saved in the print server and give a command to perform printing based on the print data by using whichever printing device the user selects. Further, in the pull printing system, it is possible to temporarily save, in the print server, print data of a user who needs to be verified before printing, print data on a print target which does not need to be printed immediately, and other print data. In this way, the print server of the pull printing system serves to transfer print data from a personal computer or the like to a printing device and vice versa (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-056756).
In addition, providing an authentication server in a system is proposed (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-170451).
As described above, such a pull printing system configuration makes a printing device convenient to use, and improves the security level of a printing device.
In the pull printing system, however, if a print server becomes unavailable, a user cannot cause a printing device to perform printing via the print server until the print server recovers from the unavailable state and is ready to be used.
In such a case, the user can output print data directly to the printing device without via the print server and cause the printing device to perform printing. In order to do this, however, a printer driver compatible with the printing device as the output destination needs to be installed on a personal computer to be used by the user, and so on. Otherwise, the user has to perform a cumbersome task for installing such a printer driver into the personal computer and so on. Even if such a printer driver is installed therein in advance, the user has to make annoying settings for printing. Further, when print data is directly outputted to the printing device, the security level required to use the printing device may not be maintained.